I don't know if any of those are quite so urgent a recovery project as Yellow Earth. Has that ever had a decent home video release? For such a seminal film, it's certainly disappeared pretty thoroughly. How about a Fifth Generation box including that, Red Sorghum and Horse Thief, for a start?

I think the problem is that so many of the 80s Chinese films had complicated financial backing from different sources, which complicates the rights issues for home release. Same trouble with 80s Taiwan films. By the 90s Zhang and Chen had enough of a cache to get regular distribution, hence the better availability and quality (save perhaps poor Ju Dou), even if the extras are nil.

But a decent release is a nice dream. (I'd also love a good release of Platform, complete with the longer original cut, but I'm not Tim Tebow.)

I don't know if any of those are quite so urgent a recovery project as Yellow Earth. Has that ever had a decent home video release?

I don't think so. As far as I remember Yellow Earth has only been released without subtitles in China some years ago. But there's at least a new DVD release of Zhang's 'Red Sorghum' which came out last year in Germany and which, as far as I remember, is pretty decent although it's not english-friendly.

Yes I still consider him to be underrated, and he's certainly not a household name at this point. Underrated and underseen in particular are those late 80s early 90s pieces, not the recent....er, i hate to say it but Crouching Tiger wannabe glossy epics he's been churning out (although I know many many people love those). I miss the beauty of Gong Li's performances in those movies, and certainly Ju Dou and Red Sorghum should be at least available in pristine prints if only to provide a context for his later work for both cinephiles and the masses to appreciate. Remember, in the early 90s he was THE director of Chinese dramas (maybe one of the few handful whose films were regularly shown in arthouse American theaters), and its strange to see those films are largely ignored on home video.

I was disappointed with Le Havre. I love both of the Eclipse sets but for whatever reason Le Havre never felt right outside of a couple scenes (the refugee camp scene for example). The tone of the film did not really fit the story is the only way I feel like I can put it into words. Anyone else have the feeling?

Maybe it was because I saw it on one of the worst dates ever and my feelings about the woman I saw it with bled through to the movie.

L'argent had the Janus logo in front. And it's about time for Proces de Jeanne d'Arc.

In the Berkeley BAM/PFA Bresson series, L'argent, Le Proces de Jeanne d'Arc, and A Man Escaped are all listed as coming from Janus and Lancelot of the Lake is listed as coming from Gaumont, so it also is a possibility. The Devil Probably is listed as coming from Film Desk and Olive films.

Les anges du péché, Une femme douce, and Four Nights of a Dreamer are presented by names that I am not familiar with (...or in the case of Une femme douce, nobody at all).

Four Nights of a Dreamer says "permission Gian Vittorio Baldi." Anyone know what this might imply about a possible release on disc?He was a producer of the film, so could the rights be negotiated with him?

Last edited by Gregory on Fri Jan 20, 2012 4:07 pm, edited 1 time in total.

So in other words - no word at all. Or do we know Criterion is onto this one?That's all I want to know, as I am unsure whether or not to buy the DirCut DVD which, really, looks abysmal judging from single frames.